Though success, by bringing the pleasures of the table within
his reach, has increased the rotundity of his figure, it has never
been able to make his collars snowy or his conversation refined. He is
often found upon the Committees of new Clubs which start with a blare
of journalistic trumpets upon a chequered existence, only to perish
in contempt a few years afterwards. But while they last he attends
them in the hope of picking up a friend who may be valuable, or some
gossip which he may turn to account. As a rule, he affects the society
of those who are intellectually dull in order that he may pass with
them for a man of immense culture and unfathomable sagacity. Over
the third long drink provided for him by an admiring associate of
this sort, he will grow eloquent, and his conversation will sparkle
with reminiscences of leading articles he may once have written, and
anticipations of others that he proposes to write. Those who hear him
on such occasions will opine that he is a man of genius, who is only
prevented by the carelessness of a Gallio from becoming a statesman of
the first rank.
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